Showing papers in "Horizons in Biblical Theology in 1990"

Psalm 2 In The Context Of Biblical Theology

Abstract: Psalm 2 is an intersection in which a variety of issues in biblical theology meet. The psalm impacts upon our understanding of monotheism in ancient Israel, the religious nature of Judah's royal ideology, the origins of eschatology, and New Testament Christology. Theological reflection on Ps 2 should therefore not only consider the recent exegetical discussions of the text, but also the theological issues raised by the Old Testament context, the New Testament's use of the psalm, and the history of the psalm's interpretation. In what follows, a survey of all these aspects will lay the basis for a theological construal of this biblical text.

The Problems Posed By 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16 And A Solution

Abstract: Even apart from the difficulties the passage poses for peace between Christians and Jews, significant problems of both form and content confront the interpreter of 1 Thess 2:13-16. The appearance of what is apparently a second thanksgiving section in the letter - after the earlier one beginning at 1:2 - has been a major difficulty. Furthermore, the passage departs in verses 15-16 from its initial theme and from the central concerns of 1:2-3:13, that is, from the Thessalonian Christians' response to the gospel and their positive relationship with the apostle, to deal with another group, "the Jews" (2:14), quite harshly and in a way different from Romans 9-11. A number of different approaches have been made with regard to this passage, but here it will suffice to mention two briefly and devote the rest of our space to the development of one approach and to response to the arguments of another.

WE BELIEVE IN GOD... MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH Metaphor, Scripture, and Theology

Abstract: "We believe in God..., Maker of heaven and earth," is a confession of the Christian church. As such, and since its cardinal terms are taken directly from the Old Testament, it invites an immediate investigation of those texts themselves. Such an investigation would seem to be my responsibility in this consultation, and it would certainly be what I am best equipped to do. However, this paper is also to reflect on the relation of biblical and theological studies. Since that relation is so crucial, and in the current situation so unclear, I have found it necessary to devote all my attention to what should be merely prolegomena. Thus, I must begin, in violation of good rhetorical form, with an apology for what I will and will not do: I will not deal with those texts that are, in great measure, the reason for our gathering; and I will engage in what may seem to be nothing more than "the endless methodological foreplay" that Jeffrey Stout sees as the bane of academic theology.1 Even so, I will have nothing to say about method. My aim is simply stated: it is to locate the interpretation of scripture in relation to theology. I will pursue that aim by reflecting on what is entailed in the confession that forms the rubric of this consultation and the title of this paper. The first two sections of the paper represent parallel probes, the first more abstract and the second more concrete, into the same topic.